Luna's Carnival
by whisperasweknowit
Summary: Luna Lovegood is holding a carnival! But who knew that the future planned for her depended so greatly on it?


**A.N. This story is for the L/P Summer Contest. I needed to include a pinwheel, a flag, and a ring, as well as some certain themes, so I apologize if you are reading that solely for the purpose of entertainment and find it completely weird. The themes included are 'True Love Waits' and 'Everything Happens For a Reason.'**

Luna Lovegood entered the headmaster's office, a bin of items clutched in her pale hands as she gently pushed open the large, heavy door. She looked around in awe for a few moments, taking in the paintings of the past headmasters and headmistresses of Hogwarts. Her eyes flicked to the old, wrinkled Sorting Hat and then to the glistening sword of Godrick Gryffindor. She let her silvery-gray gaze wander to the beautiful red bird that sat pompously on its perch, who watched her curiously in turn. Finally, she settled her stare on the headmaster himself, who was sitting behind his desk, clearly waiting for her to acknowledge his presence.

"Hello, Miss Lovegood," Dumbledore greeted with a smile.

"Your office is wonderful," Luna complimented absent-mindedly, still slightly in awe of the room.

"Ah, yes," Dumbledore agreed sincerely. "It's quite nice." Changing the subject to something more relevant, Dumbledore inquired about the box Luna was holding.

"Oh," Luna grinned. She set the large, pale blue box down on the chair across from Dumbledore's before continuing. "That's right. I was wondering if maybe we could hold a carnival," Luna suggested. "You know, for the students."

"Why, exactly, would you want to hold this carnival? And where?" The headmaster asked, slightly skeptical.

"Um, I was thinking it could be a sort of celebration," Luna rambled. "To celebrate the end of the year and stuff. Like a party. We could hold it on the Quidditch field!"

Dumbledore loosened his skeptical stare from before, looking thoughtfully at the second year. "And what would this…this _carnival_ consist of?"

Luna smiled, pulling the lid of the box she had set on the armchair beside her. "Well," she began, looking through the items. "There would definitely be games. Like," Luna paused, setting up a set of purple plastic cups in a pyramid. She motioned for the headmaster to stand beside her. She handed him a blue rubber ball as he approached her. "Like trying to knock over the cups."

Dumbledore stood where Luna indicated, tossing the ball lightly at the neat stack of cups. It bounced placidly beside the cups, barely grazing the outermost one.

"Ah!" Dumbledore exclaimed, amused.

"And there could be prizes!" Luna continued, delighted. "For instance," Luna pulled out a big, green, fluffy stuffed rabbit. "Stuffed animals. Ooo, or pinwheels!" Luna grinned, pulling a sparkly orange pinwheel from her box. She blew gently, watching the petals turn with a glimmer of joy in her eyes. Dumbledore watched, clearly fascinated by the girl.

"Here, you try," Luna offered, handing the professor the pinwheel.

Dumbledore received the pinwheel, blowing lightly. He chuckled. "Can I keep this?"

"Yes. Yes, of course. I have loads more," Luna said, appreciating that the headmaster was taking interest in her idea.

"How would we advertise this event?" Dumbledore proceeded, placing the pinwheel carefully on top of the stack of papers on his desk. He sat carefully on the corner of the desk, his feet still touching the ground slightly.

"That's easy," Luna dismissed. She reached into her box again, pulling a bright pink folded cloth from it. She unfolded it carefully on top of the desk, gently touching the center with her wand when she was done. The flag came to life. Across the top in sparkling silver letters it read 'LUNA'S CARNIVAL.' Underneath in neat black lettering it displayed the date, place, and time. Along the sides there were tiny pinwheels the same color as the title, pinned as a border, each one charmed to spin continuously at a moderate pace.

Dumbledore clapped his hands together. "Lovely, really," he complimented. "I especially love the pinwheels. I would enjoy it quite a lot if you held this carnival."

Luna grinned, touching the center of the flag once more and folded it up again. She ensued to return everything to her box, closing the lid with a snap of the plastic latches. "Thank you, Headmaster," she said with a look of pure happiness etched across her face.

Dumbledore smiled, waving the girl goodbye as she exited his office. As Luna left, Dumbledore picked up the pinwheel, giving it another spin.

* * *

It was the day of the carnival.

The weather was agreeable, much to Luna's delight. The sun shone brightly over Hogwarts, casting the large shadow of the castle the opposite direction from the event. The sky was bright blue, dotted here and there by thin cirrus clouds.

With the help of some students, the Quidditch field had been transformed. Where the grassy field usually stood lonely and barren there was now a colorful array of tents and booths. The entire complex was littered with students. Every so often there stood a stand selling various foods. One solely for cotton candy, another for popcorn, a third that sold only licorice wands, and countless others. Luna had to give herself some credit for planning it all.

Luna sat in her tent, peeking out through the royal blue curtains every now and then to watch the students pass by with prizes and sweets, laughing and talking. She sort of wanted to join them, but she couldn't. Besides, she could always grab something to eat later. She _was_ on clean-up crew. As for prizes…she had one of all of them. She had loved them too much to give them all away, so she kept some to take home. Luna felt a little bad about that last part, but it was only fair since she couldn't win them while running a tent herself.

She had decided to run a fortune-telling tent. Not many people had come by so far, but Luna didn't lose help. The event _had_ just begun, after all. She knew the school. There had to be more students interested in their future. And Luna fancied herself more appealing a fortune-teller than Professor Trelawney. Luna leaned into her comfortable purple armchair just as the pretty curtains were pulled back. A boy she had never seen before entered, taking a seat on the chair across from Luna.

"What's your name?" Luna asked the boy, curious.

"I'm Rolf," the child smiled boyishly, offering his hand. Luna shook it politely, still deciding what to make of this boy.

"Do you go here?"

"Nope," Rolf admitted freely. "I'm just visiting. Dumbledore's a great friend of my grandfather, and papa thought that we should meet."

"Huh," Luna smiled. _Isn't that odd_, she added to herself. Aloud, she said, "Well, let's get started."

From a small drawstring bag, Luna withdrew a dark blue ring. She had charmed it to change colors according to people's moods. Black for anger, blue for relaxation, orange for energy…the list was quite long. She instructed Rolf to put the ring on while she rested her palms on the crystal ball before her. She had borrowed the ball from the Divination classroom. The method was one she had learned from _The Quibbler_.

The ring on the boy's finger changed to a deep purple color. "Love," Luna began. She looked into the crystal ball, searching through the plumes of smoke that seemed to appear inside for a premonition.

Just as she was about to give up hope, she fancied she had found her prediction. She looked a little harder, starting to see the words build themselves in her mind. When the prediction had completed itself, Luna spoke it aloud.

"A chance meeting will bring together two people likely to pass each other by."

* * *

Luna Lovegood had a butterbeer before her as she sat in The Leaky Cauldron. The glass was half-full with the yellow-orange liquid, a few splatters of foam still clinging to the sides of the cup and skimming the top of the beverage.

Her profession as a wizarding naturalist had led her all over the world. She had been to every continent now, and she had discovered many of the creatures that her peers had teased her about back in Hogwarts. Despite having visited many exotic places in the past few years, it was quite nice to be back in the familiar inn.

She watched the people around her, taking a sip of her drink every now and then. She found herself watching the door, assessing the witches and wizards who entered the building. It was a habit of hers. Out in the world she was always aware of everything around her- always on the look out for a creature that could be new. Now she simply was watching people for pleasure- people watching was an amusing hobby, and a good way to kill time.

Not that Luna had anywhere specific to go.

Luna was hardly paying attention, lost in her thoughts, as a tall young man with short, light brown hair emerged from the rainy streets, setting his turquoise umbrella down by the door. Luna felt like she knew him. Like she had met him once before. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, though. Had she known him from Hogwarts? Had she met him on a trip? Seen him at her father's house?

As these questions ran through Luna's mind, he sat down. She gathered her things quickly, forgetting her butterbeer in the rush. She sat beside the man quietly, ignoring the curious look on his face. She set a smile on her own, only hoping he would return it.

"Hello, I'm Luna Lovegood."


End file.
